Achieving Home
by LdyAnne
Summary: SG1 tries to help people in need and find out that there is a price involved.


A/N: Written for the Gengate WordFic challenge - write a fic with the letters from the phrase "Really Sock it to Samantha" as the first letter of every paragraph.  
Thanks to my wonderful beta sbgrrrl!

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Rising through the layers of pain, Sam struggled to remember what had happened, why she felt like she had been hit by a train. Groping through her memories, she remembered... a village, a sad ruined place. SG-1 had happened upon it in the aftermath of an attack. The smoke rising above the trees had drawn their attention. When they left the road to investigate they found the village in ruins, some of the buildings were still smoldering.

Essians. They were the Essians. They had been so afraid of SG-1 at first. Sam's heart went out to them when she had first spied the village. The marauders who attacked had burned buildings and destroyed the crops, trampling the new tender green shoots into the earth. Women wandered the ruins crying, sad-eyed children sat in the dirt not making any sound at all. It was a place totally bereft of hope when SG-1 found it.

Almost afraid to approach them, SG-1 stopped to offer what aid they could. A lone man came forward to challenge them as they approached what little was left of the village. It was clear by the way he brandished the local equivalent of a pitchfork that he thought they were there to finish the job. He spoke a strange guttural language, but Sam didn't need Daniel to tell them that he was insisting that they leave at once. It would have been comical to see him there thinking he could threaten them if it hadn't been so sad.

Lifting his hands to show the man that he held no weapons, Daniel took a step forward. Sam knew by the tightening of the colonel's jaw that he didn't like Daniel putting himself in harm's way, but he let Daniel go, trusting him to do his job. Speaking in a slow calm voice, Daniel took one step, then two, towards the man. It seemed to reassure the frightened man, slowly the pitchfork lowered until it touched the ground. Daniel just had that way about him. All he had to do was say, "We come in peace," and most sentient beings believed him. Sam always thought it was because he believed it with his whole heart and soul. Daniel was there in peace, and he wanted nothing more than to help. Most people couldn't help but respond to that.

Leaving the rest of SG-1 to watch his back, Daniel slowly spoke to the man. He listened intently deciphering what the man was telling him and translating it for his team. A marauding party from another village had attacked the Essians – killing men, taking women and children, and destroying their homes and crops. Listening to the story as it came in bits and pieces as told by Daniel was so hard. Having to tell them that there was nothing they could do was even harder.

Yet that was the only choice that SG-1 could make. They weren't in the business of fighting other people's battles; they had their hands full with their own. As heart wrenching as it was to see the plight the people were in, there was little more they could do besides offer what little food and medicines they had with them. Once they found out they had nothing to fear from them the people crowded around the strangers as SG-1 handed out power bars and MREs. They were so pathetically grateful for the small kindnesses that SG-1 could give; it tore at Sam's heart to not be able to do more.

She wasn't surprised when the colonel himself suggested that they stick around a couple of days, "just to assess the situation." Sam had to smile. He couldn't just admit that he wanted to help the people. He had to couch it in military terms that would disguise his true feelings. He suggested that they could help with the replanting and rebuilding. The rest of the team didn't hesitate in saying yes. There had been too much death and destruction in their lives over the last few years. It felt good to be able to provide aid for a change, to make a difference for the good in people's lives. When they radioed the SGC, they received immediate permission to stay along with a large shipment of more food and medicine. Then they got down to the business of rebuilding the Essian village.

Over the course of the next week the village came alive again. Not only were the homes and buildings repaired and rebuilt, but the crops were replanted. Sam watched as the people began to smile again and the children ventured out to play in the sunshine once more. Sam loved working in the fields with the people of the village. She had always liked planting flowers in her yard at home, but this was different. She crumbled the dirt between her fingers and realized that they were actually sowing the seeds of the crops that would feed the Essians during their long winter. It was humbling to know that they might very well be responsible for making the difference in whether the Essians made it through the winter months alive.

Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c worried about what would happen if the marauders were to return. With Daniel as their translator, they plied the Essians with questions about the marauders: how often did they marauders come, where did they come from, how well armed were they? But the surviving Essians seemed to have little information about their attackers. Privately Sam thought they were too afraid of the mysterious marauders to talk about them, as if speaking of them would bring them back. Night after night they sat around the fire with Daniel asking questions and they learned nothing, until finally the colonel decided it was time for them to find the answers on their own.

Keeping the villagers occupied was Sam and Daniel's job, so they wouldn't notice that the colonel and Teal'c had left. They executed their part of the plan perfectly, no one noticed the missing men until it was time to sit down for the evening meal. That was when everything went to hell in a handbasket.

In a moment, Sam and Daniel found themselves surrounded. The villagers that had been peaceful and friendly a moment before were now suddenly savage and wild. They circled the two team members and began slowly moving in on them. Even though there was no time for Daniel to translate, Sam could see that they were in trouble. She fired a warning shot into the air as the villagers continued to advance on them. They didn't even pause, they just kept moving forward. Sam desperately looked for an escape route, she didn't want to hurt anyone, SG-1 had spent the last week trying to help the very same people who were now menacing them. She heard Daniel frantically calling for the colonel and Teal'c. Then she was firing into the crowd as they closed in. She felt herself being buried under a crush of bodies hoping desperately that Daniel had gotten through to their team mates. Then there was just pain and the only escape was into the blackness.

Time seemed to stretch and loop back on itself as Sam rose through the pain toward consciousness. It seemed she lived the whole week again, but then it was only seconds before she opened her eyes to see the wan daylight spilling through a slit of a window to dazzle her eyes, her body awash with pain. There was nothing she could pinpoint, just an all over kind of pain that started with her fingernails and spread all the way to her toes. She struggled to sit up; she needed to find out what the situation was.

"Take it easy, lie still," Daniel's voice instructed, then he moved into her field of vision, pushing her back down gently. He looked as bad as she left she decided critically. His face was bruised, with one eye almost swollen shut and there was a gash on one side of his head that was still oozing blood. He smiled down at her ruefully, his blue eyes reflecting her sadness and pain, "I guess the locals didn't take it well that we meddled in their internal affairs," he told her.

"... Only trying to help," she whispered, licking dry, chapped lips. From somewhere he produced a small cup. Supporting her head, he helped her drink. She took small sips, letting the water ease her throat. It felt wonderful. As Daniel helped her drink she assessed his condition. He didn't have any other obvious injuries, but he moved slowing, carefully. He was working hard to keep his expression neutral; even so she detected the occasional hiss of pain. It was clear to her they weren't going to be able to escape on their own. Did the colonel and Teal'c even know what had happened to them?

"Sorry, Sam," Daniel answered her query. "I think Jack may have tried to respond, but there were just too many of the Essians. I wish I could give you something for the pain, but they took all of our things before they threw us in here." He lowered her gently. She could tell there was more by the way he kept avoiding her eyes. "Sam, they did this on purpose." Then he met her gaze levelly and she could see the anger and betrayal he felt reflected in his eyes. "These people, they lure in unsuspecting travelers... They beg for help, then they find out everything they can about them before they rob and kill the very people who tried to help them. They were going to do that to us when Jack and Teal'c upset their careful little scheme by leaving. I'm... afraid they're dead," he confessed, his voice so quiet she had to strain to hear him.

Anger filled her. Anger that they had helped the Essians and this was how they were repaid. It gave her the strength to shove aside the pain and sit up. Daniel protested, but she ignored him. When he saw it was clear she wasn't going to listen to him, he helped her until she was standing on her feet. Okay, swaying would be a better word, but she was upright. They had to get out, find out what had happened to the rest of their team. SG-1 had done everything they could do. It was time to go home.

Maybe she should have been surprised when an explosion shattered the quiet of the morning, but she wasn't. She had known the colonel and Teal'c weren't dead. The Essians might think themselves clever in their sick little game, but they were about to find out that SG-1 wasn't playing anymore. Shouts and screams could be heard outside their little prison as explosions rocked the village. Sam and Daniel set themselves, supporting one another. She knew that when the door to their prisoner opened, the chances were going to be about even whether it would be their team there to rescue them or their captors come to execute them, but they were ready either way.

Acutely aware that neither of them was in any shape to put up a fight, Sam stood waiting, ready for anything. They heard the footsteps outside their door. She braced herself, noting the tremble in Daniel's arm where it wrapped around her waist, the catch in his breath. Then the door opened and it was Teal'c standing there, staff weapon leveled. He nodded in satisfaction, as if he had been sure that he would find them ready and waiting for him. They didn't have to be told, both Sam and Daniel knew it was time to leave. Leaning on one another, they ducked through the door to freedom.

Never had Sam been so glad to see the gate in her life. The Essians gave up the pursuit of them quickly. Maybe they were smart enough to know that they just couldn't win against a very pissed off colonel and Jaffa warrior. Still it was a long slow trip back to the gate with frequent stops to tend to their injuries and rest. Sam and Daniel were determined to make it through the gate on their own two feet; but she, for one, would be very glad to see Janet and the infirmary for a change. Daniel's labored breathing and stumbling steps beside her told her that he probably felt the same.

The truth was, she was sad that everything they had done for the Essians was a lie. The connections she had felt, the friendships she had made with the people had all been built on that lie. She had been fooled completely and it saddened her, saddened her that the Essians thought they had to live that way, it made her sad for the children who knew no other way of life and would grow up to live the same lie.

How could they live like that? Sam just couldn't fathom it – greeting every word and kind deed with a knife in the back. It was a hell of a way to stay alive. She suspected that the Essians wouldn't last long. She was sure the colonel and Teal'c would have tried to minimize the damage to the village they had worked so hard to rebuild. Soon enough the Essians would piss off someone who was less compassionate than SG-1. It was such a waste, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Acknowledging that was the hardest thing she had to do. They went through the gate and did the best they could. Sometimes they actually got to help people, make a difference. Some days their only victory was that they made it home walking on their own two feet. She sighed as she stepped up the stairs to the gate. It beckoned to her speaking of rest for weary bones, drugs to soothe the pain away and people that she could be sure of. With one arm around Daniel, followed closely by the colonel and Teal'c, they stepped into the blue pool of the gate, letting the wormhole pull them along, taking them home.


End file.
